MANILA, Philippines - Land values in
Metro Manila continued to rise as of end-September last year, boosted largely
by the sustained strong demand for office space in the capital, the Bangko
Sentral ng Pilipinas said.

Implied land values in the Makati
central business district (CBD) went up 35 percent to P435,000 per square meter
in the third quarter from a year ago, the central bank said, citing data from
Colliers International.

The latest level is also 19 percent
higher than the P366,425 per sqm recorded in the second quarter of last year,
the BSP said.

“The significant increase in the
Makati CBD land value is primarily attributed to the sale of JAKA Tower, an
unfinished office building located along the prime area of the business
district,” the central bank said.

In Ortigas center, land values grew
nine percent to P154,000 per sqm in the third quarter versus the same period in
2013. It was also three percent higher than the P149,365 per sqm recorded in
the second quarter of 2014.

“Implied land values in the Makati CBD
were slightly above their 1997 levels in nominal terms, but only about 45.1
percent of their 1997 levels in real terms,” the BSP said.

“Meanwhile, land values in the Ortigas
Center were lower than their comparable levels in 1997 in both nominal and real
terms by about 79 percent and 34.8 percent, respectively,” the central bank
said.

Nominal figures refer to the actual
price in 1997, while real terms are nominal values adjusted for inflation.

At the same time, the BSP said office
vacancy rate in the Makati CBD slid to 1.9 percent in the third quarter last
year from 2.1 percent in the second quarter.

“This was due to continued strong
office demand amid limited office supply in the Makati CBD. The office vacancy
rate is estimated by Colliers to narrow further to 1.6 percent in Q3 2015,” the
central bank said.

Residential vacancy rate, meanwhile,
also went down to 8.1 percent in the third quarter from 10.6 percent in the
second quarter.

The BSP said there were higher
occupancy rates observed in high-rise residential segments although Colliers
International expects the rate to go up to 10.7 percent by the third quarter of
this year as more units will become available.